MUMBAI: Sales of sports goods and equipment have taken a massive hit after the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax, claims a survey by the Traders Association of Sporting Goods and Physical Exercise Equipment (TASGPEE).
Business has suffered 50 to 60 per cent, says the trade body that covers 67 fitness equipment retailers and 250 potential fitness equipment customers across the country, says a Business Standard report. The survey found there has been an unprecedented nationwide slump in the sales of fitness equipment in the past four months.
Sports goods and equipment attract tax in the range of 12-28 per cent, according to the new indirect tax regime. Sports goods and physical exercise equipment manufacturers and retailers have sought re-classification as “sports goods”, which would help the entire range of sports products to come under the GST rate slab of 12 per cent, says the association.
The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) too had approached the finance ministry in August this year, expressing its apprehensions about the imposition of higher GST slabs on sports equipment that would impose higher duties on procuring equipment from abroad.
